My very first baseball related memory dates back to the early 80’s.I was about 5 years old when i took my first swing.The bat was plastic,long,and bright yellow.Like the kind that came with a wiffle ball as part of a set.An older cousin had brought it over and offered to throw me a couple of pitches in the backyard.I still remember how good it felt to make solid contact.That little plastic ball had seemingly made the mistake of floating directly into my wheelhouse,ultimately succumbing to the barrel of that yellow,rinky- dink bat that probably weighed more than i did at the time.It was Reggie-esque…..No it wasn’t.For all I know it could have just been a grounder hit back to my cousin,not 100% sure,but I did make contact and it felt great!I don’t know why exactly,but i wouldn’t go on to swing another baseball bat for another 6 years.I was around 10 or 11 when my interest in baseball began to re-surface.This time thanks to my dad who would occasionally throw on the Met game and point out who the good hitters on the team were.He talked about a guy named Strawberry a lot.I always thought that “Strawberry” was a funny name,especially for a power hitter.No player could put a smile on my dads face like Lenny Dykstra did.His face would light up every time “Nails” legged out a triple.Sooo naturally I would become a Mets fan.Until one day,a friend of mine began talking about an American League player who was lighting up the junior circuit at the time.”This guy’s good,even better than Strawberry!” he exclaimed “His name’s Jose Canseco!”